Indian River elementary students finding treasures in the garden | Photo Gallery

SEBASTIAN — Third-grader Alexis Bedell dug into the garden at the Treasure Coast Elementary Wednesday, anxious to retrieve something very valuable to her — a cabbage.

The 9-year-old was one of 20 students who participated in the final harvest of the school's garden — a project of the garden club co-sponsored by the Mardy Fish Foundation. Throughout the school year, 56 students participated in the garden club after school.

"I really learned a lot about gardening," said Alexis, who said she also grows vegetables at home. "I eat more vegetables and less junk food, and definitely less sweets, except on Halloween."

First-grade teacher Coletta Murray worked with students to plant, maintain and harvest the garden, which included tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, radishes, onions and a variety of herbs. Murray and cafeteria manager Susan Brenton wrote grants that helped pay for supplies and worked with students to design healthy recipes for their produce bounty.

"I hope they learned about self-survival," said Murray. "They can go buy a pepper, take out the seeds and plant them and grow more peppers."

The theme for this year's garden was recycle and reuse, Murray said. Club members planted donated tomato plants in old tires and used rain barrels to collect roof runoff to water the garden.

In addition to the Mardy Fish Foundation, local sponsors for the Treasure Coast garden included Home Depot in Sebastian, Tire Kingdom in Vero Beach and Bonnie Plants in Port St. Lucie. Additional grants received included Florida Agriculture in the Classroom; Florida Agriculture Gardening for the Grades; Farm Bureau Foundation; and the Education Foundation of Indian River County.

Several parents watched Wednesday as students collected tomatoes, peppers and onions that they will turn into a pizza sauce at next week's garden club meeting.

Christy Wright of Sebastian said her two sons, Zachary and Justice, loved working in the garden after school.

"My kids loved it," said Wright. "They learned a lot about planting and growing vegetables and what kind of herbs to put into different recipes. It encourages me to plant a garden at home so we can continue making things like fresh salsa."

For Alexis, her favorite recipe was one for tomato and mozzarella salad, one that's made with different types of tomatoes.